Former South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has backed Gary Gold to be a huge success at Bath, but has sounded a note of caution to the players about their new boss.

Gold injected some fighting spirit into the Newcastle Falcons' floundering Aviva Premiership season when he was appointed interim coach in January and very nearly led them off the foot of the table.

Prior to that, he was De Villiers' assistant coach with the Springboks from 2008 through to their quarter-final exit at last year's Rugby World Cup.

De Villiers believes Bath are lucky to have Gold, but emphasises that the players will have to buy into his methods of coaching.

"He's a brilliant man, he's a student of the game and understands the game well," De Villiers told ESPN. "Technically he's very astute and should make a big difference at Bath. But then again, it all depends on how the people listen to him, how they perceive him and how they want to work with him to be part of the success.

"If it's solely about personality then there are going to be clashes and the game will suffer. But I recommend him with everything I have."